


Its called ‘Stargazing’, idiot

by uchvha



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Canon Rewrite, Chuunin Exams, Fuuinjutsu, Genjutsu, Hatake Kakashi Is Trying, Hatake Kakashi is a Good Teacher, Land of Waves Arc, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Shippuden, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Strong Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Massacre, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, future ships to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29106276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchvha/pseuds/uchvha
Summary: Basically a canon rewrite where Kakashi decides to actually teach team 7 properly after deciding that he didn’t want to see the team fall apart just as his genin team did, especially since he sees his old teammates in his new students (brats) in more ways than oneI rated this as teenage audiences and up, just due to canon typical violence, (hopefully accurate) descriptions of mental illness (I’ll put a warning in the notes when it appears) and probably swearing and such. As the story is currently in the time period of part 1 (and also because I’m uncomfortable writing it) there won’t be any smut either
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 43
Kudos: 209





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my fanfic :)  
> This was highkey painfully typed on my iPad (wouldn’t recommend) so I apologise for any mistakes lol but I’ll have my laptop back by the next chapter so it should be okay hopefully  
> Anyways this is actually my first fanfic in about 2-3 years (aka when I left my wattpad days in the dust) and i honestly have no clue how posting and stuff on here works but whatever lmaooo 
> 
> I’ll add a bit about me in the end notes (pronouns and all that) but yeah hope u enjoy

Kakashi had little to no idea as to why the Hokage had called him into his office, especially at such a late hour. If he had it his way, he would be much more likely to be sitting on his couch, reading the latest addition to the ‘Makeout Paradise’ series which just so happened to be written by his favourite of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya. Instead he found himself racing along the rooftops of the Leaf Village, hoping that whatever the Hokage needed to tell him wasn’t anything like the type of thing he would hear in his time as an ANBU.

Still, it wasn’t unlikely that the meeting would simply be regarding his previous mission — Kakashi knew just how packed the Third’s day was and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to him if he just wanted a bit more information on the mission he had recently taken part in. Despite this, doubt still lingered in his mind. It wasn’t often that the Hokage would summon him at this hour, and the times he would were usually caused by him forgetting that the silver haired man was no longer an ANBU agent, but rather an elite jonin. _With the amount of work the Third gives me I might as well be back in ANBU_ , Kakashi finds himself thinking, but he quickly shakes the thought from his mind as he enters the Hokage’s office.

“Ah, Kakashi, I apologise for summoning you at such a late hour,” The old man said, an apologetic look in his face.  
“Lord Third,” Kakashi muttered, bowing his head. “It’s not a problem at all.” Ordinarily he wouldn’t speak this quietly, but in the dead of night his voice would be difficult not to hear.  
“That’s good, then.” He clears his throat before continuing. “Back to business, you may have heard about the recent genin examinations?”  
Kakashi nodded, already knowing what the Hokage was getting at.  
“Well, I’d like you to be the jonin leader for the next team 7.” The taller man closed his right eye for a moment, contemplating on what to say next. After a moment, he hesitantly opened his mouth and replied,  
“I’m sorry but there’s a reason I didn’t sign up to lead a genin team. It’s not exactly my area of expertise, that and…” he opened his eye to find the older man staring directly at him, completely expressionless. “I really hate kids.”

Despite what he had said, Kakashi really didn’t hate kids. Sure, he didn’t like them, but he wouldn’t go as far as saying he hated them. What he hated were brats, and as far as he was concerned, all genin were brats. Especially the ones fresh out of the academy. The majority of them seemed to have over inflated egos that were only boosted by their recent promotion to so-called ‘fully-fledged’ ninja.

The Hokage only sighed at this before saying,  
“I had a feeling you would say that. However, it’s too late now. You’re probably the only one I would trust training the three, especially the two boys.”  
“Which brats am I going to be teaching?”  
The Hokage sighed once again before sliding three files across the desk to him.  
“The nine-tails jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke, AKA this year’s top rookie. And finally, the top kunoichi of the class, Haruno Sakura.”  
Kakashi studied the files for a minute before replying,  
“So you’re saying I’ve got to teach Minato-sensei and Kushina’s son, which should be challenging enough as it is, only to have to teach the last loyal member of the Uchiha clan and a civilian kunoichi on top of that.” When the Hokage didn’t answer, Kakashi only managed to let out a sigh. “I guess I’ve got one hell of a task ahead of me then.” Is all he said before disappearing into the night.

————

Kakashi found himself watching the genin the next day, from the moment they walked into the classroom. Minato-sensei’s son was easy enough to locate, with bright yellow hair and blue eyes that matched his father’s. Not to mention the fact that he was easily the loudest person in the room, as well as the almost offensively bright orange clothing that’s only purpose seemed to be to attract eyes from almost anywhere and could probably be seen from a kilometre or two away. The loudmouth oddly reminded Kakashi of Obito, causing his chest to ache.

The next person from his team that he located was Haruno Sakura, who seemed to be amongst a large crowd of girls that were surrounding someone. Her long, pink hair as well as her green eyes made her stand out enough without her loud voice echoing throughout the room as she seemingly argued with Naruto about something. As this argument occurred, the group of girls that had been recently crowded around somebody cleared up, revealing the third genin brat he was being forced to teach.

Uchiha Sasuke. The guy definitely had the looks of an Uchiha, with dark hair that had a somewhat bluish tinge and pitch black eyes that seemed to hold more hatred than should ever be seen in the eyes of a twelve year old boy. This didn’t surprise Kakashi, however. Everybody knew the story of how the boy’s older brother, Itachi, had massacred the entire clan. The older boy had seemed to show so much love towards Sasuke and vice versa, so it wasn’t overly surprising that he held a lot of hatred in his heart towards his older brother.

Kakashi’s thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sight of Naruto jumping up on a desk to glare at Sasuke. _This isn’t going to go well_ is all Kakashi manages to think before a kid in front of Naruto accidentally bumps the blonde and-  
This was not going off to a great start.

————

“My name’s Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen, and my future dream… Is to surpass the Hokage! And so I’m going to get the entire village to acknowledge my existence!”  
 _So his personality is much more like Kushina’s despite looking just like Minato-sensei…_  
“I’m Sakura Haruno. What I like… I mean, who I like is… And my hobby is, I mean… My future dream is…” The girl squeals, her face going as pink as her hair.  
 _Let’s just hope we can change that in time, for not only my sake but Sasuke’s, too._  
“My name’s… Uchiha Sasuke. I have a lot of dislikes, but no likes in particular. And… I don’t feel like summing up my ambition to just a dream but I do have an ambition. The ambition to restore my clan and without fail… to kill a certain man.”  
 _Not like I expected much different._

“Great. You’re off for the rest of the day, but meet me at the training grounds tomorrow morning,” The three of them watched him intently, as if waiting for him to continue. “Also, I wouldn’t eat any breakfast if I were you. The training will likely get pretty intense and I’m not the type to hold your hair back as you puke all over my shoes.”  
The genin looked slightly shocked at this, as if they had been trying and partially failed to hide their shock.  
Beneath his mask, Kakashi smiled. This was going to be fun.

————

“3… 2… 1…”  
The loudmouth blonde ran forwards, a few shadow clones following in his wake. Kakashi found himself sighing and almost wishing the blonde had inherited a few more of Minato’s traits — it was nothing against the brat, of course, but the kid was so impatient and impulsive and loud that Kakashi could already feel the headache coming.  
Did he mention impatient?

It didn’t take long to take down all the clones as well as the original Naruto who now lay on the ground, Kakashi on top of him to prevent him moving. He smiled beneath his mask, his one visible eye closing, before saying,  
“I didn’t say ‘go’ yet, brat.”  
He felt the blonde squirm as he released his hold, standing back up and grabbing his copy of the latest ‘Makeout Paradise’ installment. “Go.” was all he muttered as the three disappeared before his eyes.

He found Naruto first, or at least assumed it was him, as the other two had never shown to have any sort of interest in traps according to their academy files. Said traps seemed to be leading to a specific spot, as if Naruto had already assumed that Kakashi would be able to see through all of them. _The kid might have some hope yet… Iruka taught him well in the traps department._

Too bad he wouldn’t be able to catch Kakashi even if he tried.

Still, he decided to humour him — maybe it was his similarities to Obito that interested him, or maybe he was just curious to see what Minato-sensei’s kid would be like. Either way, Kakashi found himself standing in the exact spot Naruto had tried to lure him to.  
 _Not to sound like a Nara but… this is going to be such a drag._

A loud giggle interrupted his thoughts.  
“I got you, Kaka-sensei!” Kakashi turned to the source of the voice.  
“Kaka- what?” He said, slightly exasperated. He couldn’t tell if the brat had simply forgotten his name or whether he was giving him a nickname — both options annoyed him. Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja, was not one for childish nicknames. Still, a small part of him found it absolutely adorable and he hated how the brat was somewhat growing on him.

Said brat appeared in front of him a few seconds later, or maybe brats was a more accurate term. Maybe a hundred or so shadow clones surrounded him, causing Kakashi to groan in annoyance. Of course he could make more than a few shadow clones — he was an Uzumaki and a jinchuuriki for god’s sake. Still, whether it be one or a thousand, Naruto didn’t have the ability to take down Kakashi yet. Despite this, he still cursed himself silently for underestimating the guy. Well, either that or the idiot didn’t think things through whatsoever and this elaborate plan was completely accidental. _Well, if it's the former, maybe he did inherit a few more of Minato-sensei’s genes than I thought._

…

It was the latter.

Kakashi sighed as he looked at the blonde brat in front of him, hanging by his foot.  
“Shinobi lesson number 1,” The silver haired man said as he began to walk away, looking for his next target. “Taijutsu.”

His next target wasn’t too difficult to find either, as she appeared to be looking for someone other than him. He sighed softly, finding himself thinking of ways he could get her more engaged in her training exercises. He’d heard about her incredible chakra control and monstrous strength from the academy, so it would be a shame to see all that go to waste. _What am I thinking? I might not even pass them yet._  
Either way, he wasn’t wrong — it would be a shame to see a chakra control prodigy such as her go to waste.

Kakashi thought back to her file, thinking of how he would push her to the point of realising she couldn't beat him on her own so that she would seek help amongst her team — he had decided this would be a good way to go due to the current situation… Besides, fighting them solo also gave him the chance to learn about their personalities.  
 _She’s a genjutsu type according to her file… let’s see how well she does against the second shinobi lesson._

And so, with a loud scream, Sakura passed out due to the visions that Kakashi had put into her mind.  
“Shinobi lesson number 2. Genjutsu.” Is all he said before disappearing.

Maybe he went a little too far on that one.

Finally, he reached the destination of his final target. The fight against the Uchiha — though certainly one sided — could prove to be interesting... or at least more so than the rest. According to the Third, although he paled in comparison to Itachi, the remaining Uchiha was still a prodigy in his own right.

What he wasn’t expecting, however, was for the moody, prideful brat to already have unlocked the Sharingan.  
“What… since when did you…?”  
“Hn.” Is all the Uchiha offered in reply, smirking.  
“Come at me, then. I’m not waiting all day.”  
Regardless of the sharingan, Kakashi knew he would easily be able to take down the last of the brats, especially considering he only had one tomoe in each eye.

Somehow, he kept underestimating the Uchiha.

For the second time in under a minute, Kakashi found himself surprised by the kid. Of all the jutsu he was expecting, he certainly hadn’t been expecting the great fireball jutsu.  
“That’s not a jutsu that a twelve year old should be able to handle,” He said after dodging it and taking cover behind a nearby tree. Knowing the Uchiha clan, however, the kid had probably known it since he was barely eligible to apply for the academy. Obito’s words flew into his mind as he pondered this, feeling a pang in his chest for the second time today due to his fallen comrade and friend. _‘The fireball jutsu is one that a person needs to learn to be fully accepted as a member of the clan. Most learn it pretty young, those from the main family especially.’_

Another “Hn,” was the only reply. _Jeez, talkative much._  
“I’ll admit it,” He found himself saying. “You’re different from the rest. Stronger. That doesn’t make you strong enough to beat me by any means, though.”  
He wasn’t wrong — the Uchiha brat did show a greater threat than the others. For a moment, though, as he appeared in the corner of Kakashi’s peripheral vision, he couldn’t help but see a younger version of himself within Sasuke… just as he had seen Obito in Naruto. _What’s next, I start to see Rin in Sakura?_ He pushed the thoughts from his mind as he deflected the shuriken and kunai that were sent his way, before participating in a taijutsu fight of sorts.

 _So one tomoe doesn’t have enough kinetic vision to foresee my moves… huh._  
“Shinobi lesson number 3… ninjutsu.” Is all he said as he used an earth style jutsu to push Sasuke into the ground, leaving only his head showing.

_If they learned to cooperate as a team, these kids could prove to be interesting…_ is all Kakashi thought as he disappeared from view, leaving the last of the brats in the dust.


	2. Enter: Umino Iruka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bell test is finally completed and Naruto goes to celebrate with Iruka, telling him about his upcoming training trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!! this is way sooner than i intended to post this but I was avoiding homework and got inspired whilst listening to a lofi version of the genshin impact soundtrack lol so yeah  
> next chapter will probably be up on saturday depending on how much homework I get :)
> 
> also I finally got italics to work lmaooo so no more having to write the thoughts as 'text' and I got my laptop back so I should be able to update regularly

“You pass.” Kakashi smiled under his mask at the flabbergasted expressions on the faces of his students. 

“We- what?” Sakura asked, unable to mask her shock. 

“How?” Sasuke demanded at the same time. All the while Naruto looked not only confused but also somewhat disappointed that he wasn’t still being fed – the kid really did eat a lot. 

“One at a time. But yes, you passed,” Kakashi was still grinning and attempting to hide his laughter at the sight of the brats before him. “It wasn’t in the way I necessarily wanted you to, but you worked as a team regardless.”

“Don’t tell me-” Sakura started, only to be interrupted. 

“This was a team building exercise. The genin before you that I have sent back to the academy countless times followed my orders word for word, which was technically the correct thing to do, but they abandoned their teammates much like you guys did in the beginning. By offering Naruto your lunch and disobeying my direct order to work as a team, you passed.”

There was a moment of silence in which the three seemed to debate the silver haired man’s answer before Naruto spoke up.

“So what you’re saying is that we passed because we broke a rule. That doesn’t make sense… I mean I’m not against breaking rules but you seemed like the type who would follow the rules word for word.” Kakashi sighed at this, thinking grimly of his previous self before Obito had died.

“In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are scum… but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. That’s what this lesson was supposed to teach.”

The three kids stared at him, completely bewildered once again. Though, this time, there was a look of understanding on each of their faces. As much as they probably hated to admit it, they were a team now. A team that would be together pretty much until they were jonin. A team that would be required to go on harsh missions together, to grow a sense of trust so that in those harsher missions they would know that they had each other’s backs. Kakashi was simply there to nurture them, to help them build the trust and skills that they needed so that when he was gone, the three would be able to fight on regardless and outlive him. 

Shinobi were never supposed to live long lives. People such as the Third and the Elders were rarities, with skill sets so vast and powerful that the fate of being a shinobi hadn’t yet caught up to them. And yet, somehow, Kakashi had outlived the people on his own genin team that had the skills and potential to live lives just as long as them… had they not been born in a war torn era, his teammates may have survived and maybe even outlived him. 

And so, as he stared at his new teammates, Kakashi made a vow. A vow which he would never break, regardless of the situation. He would protect them, no matter what. Even if it meant offering up his own life, he would make sure that they wouldn’t have to experience the pain and suffering he had felt as a child, and vowed to make sure that they wouldn’t have to know the pain of losing somebody close to them more than they already did. 

To the blonde kid that resembled his sensei so much, with the personality and dreams of Obito.

To the dark haired boy that’s eyes were already filled with so much pain and sorrow that he was reminded of himself. 

To the civilian girl who’s inner strength and kindness reminded him so much of Rin.

He vowed that he would never allow them to feel the sheer agony of losing a comrade, just as he had. 

“Tomorrow we’re going on a training trip, so pack enough supplies for maybe two months and enough food for perhaps a week or so… from then onwards we should be able to be pretty self-sufficient in terms of food.” He told them, standing up from his kneeling position. 

“Where are we going?” Asked, or more demanded, the Uchiha.

“We’re doing some training out in a more isolated area. It gives us more freedom to do the kinds of training I’m thinking of doing. Although it will put you guys a bit behind in terms of missions, by the time you return D ranks should be nothing but chores and won’t take you long to complete at all,” They all looked away and nodded, clearly thinking about the kinds of supplies they might need. “If you stick around this afternoon, which isn’t compulsory by the way, I can teach you how to pack if you’d like.” Naruto and Sakura’s faces lit up as they nodded, and Sasuke only replied with a simple “Hn,”. 

Kakashi sighed. Even though he vowed to protect them, the time that it would take for them to learn to cooperate and work together as a team could potentially be painful. 

“Hey, Kaka-sensei! Since we passed your test I think you should treat us to ramen!” The blonde suddenly said out of nowhere, a huge grin on his face. 

“It’s always ramen with you isn’t it, loser.” Sasuke seemed to glare daggers at the other boy, but didn’t exactly seem opposed to the idea either. Kakashi would have been more shocked if he were, to be perfectly honest. 

“Yeah, Naruto! All you eat is ramen and it’s terrible for your digestive system.” Sakura added to Sasuke’s comment with a huff, turning her head away. 

“Teme! Didn’t you eat a tomato like an apple once?” Naruto shifted under the ropes that still bound him to the post, as if he was attempting to throw hands with the dark haired brat next to him. 

“Hn,” Is all Sasuke offered in reply, only adding to Naruto’s anger. 

“Maa, maa. I already made you all lunch, why don’t you go bother Iruka-sensei and get him to treat you to ramen?” 

At those words, Naruto’s face seemed to light up.

“Iruka-sensei!” He yelled, completely disregarding the previous argument he had had with the brat next to him. It was a moment before his face went bright red and he stared at his feet, seemingly embarrassed. “Could you help untie me, please?”

Kakashi sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day as Sakura began to giggle and Sasuke smirked at the blonde, clearly finding enjoyment in his embarrassment. The masked man simply shook his head in annoyance before helping untie the jinchuuriki, and began to set up for what could be an exceptionally annoying class with the three brats before him. 

Still, although he hated to admit it, this had probably been the conclusion that the Third had been trying to reach by assigning Kakashi as the leader of this team in particular. Minato-sensei had tried a similar thing before, of course, but due to the circumstances it hadn’t necessarily worked out. 

Helping train a bunch of brats to become fine shinobi and kunoichi had finally given Kakashi a sense of purpose back into his life, one that he hadn’t had in well over 10 years. 

Kakashi once again felt himself involuntarily sigh as he watched Naruto begin to chase Sasuke around the training grounds, presumably after some kind of comment that fueled Naruto’s fiery nature that he had inherited from Kushina. 

Annoying as it was, he hoped that the days of their childish innocence wouldn’t have to come to an abrupt stop.

––––––––

“Iruka-sensei!” Naruto yelled as he ran towards the brunette teacher, who’s look of shock was unable to be masked by the surprise of seeing his past student running towards him. 

“N- Naruto?” He yelled back as the blonde jumped into his arms and was spun around, so as to prevent him from pushing Iruka over. He hadn’t seen the boy at all since his graduation the day before, which was shocking in itself – Iruka had expected him to come complaining about his new team much sooner (specifically about Sasuke) but it seemed that Kakashi was keeping them busy after all. 

“Iruka-sensei! Treat me to Ichiraku Ramen!” Iruka found himself laughing softly as he teased,

“Didn’t I teach you any manners? No ramen until you say please.” He pinched the boy’s cheek, laughing even harder as he noticed how red he had gone from embarrassment. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Treat me to ramen please!”

“There we go,” He replied as he stood up from his crouched position. “Let’s go and you can tell me all about your first two days on Team 7 along the way.”

“Ramen!” Naruto yelled excitedly, grabbing Iruka’s hand and dragging him along the streets at breakneck speed. 

… 

“So, you never told me… how was training today?” Iruka asked the boy next to him, who was piling ramen into his mouth like it was oxygen. 

“It was good,” He tried to say, but due to the sheer amount of food in his mouth, it came out much more muffled and difficult to understand. Slightly annoyed, Iruka slapped the back of the blonde’s head.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. What is it with you and your terrible manners today?” 

“Sorry,” Was all Naruto said after swallowing. “Anyways, what I was saying was that it was good. Kaka-sensei did this bell training thing with us and we passed because Sakura-chan and that bastard Sasuke fed me some of their lunch. He’s so annoying and wouldn’t stop calling me a loser all day… did I mention that he’s a total bastard?”  
  
Iruka stared at him, completely flabbergasted. Of all things, that wasn’t what he had expected to come out of the boy’s mouth. Him complaining about Sasuke had been expected, of course, but he had heard about the bell test and its difficulties. To pass it in such a way was shocking to say the least, but for the two other teammates who didn’t necessarily hide their dislike for the blonde to…

“Sakura and Sasuke… what? And you passed because of that? You’ve got to give me more details than that. Also, watch your language.” Iruka’s voice turned stern at the end, causing Naruto to scratch the back of his head in remembrance of the events from barely a minute before. 

“Well, first we started off fighting separately, but after even that Sasuke bastard got beaten we all ended up getting another chance. Kaka-sensei prompted us in a way to work together, but instructed the other two to not give me any of their lunch. Oh, yeah, I was tied to a post as well because I’d tried to eat lunch early. Anyways then Sasuke offered me his lunch and said something about him not wanting me to be a hindrance or something and then Sakura-chan followed after him. That reminds me, afterwards Kaka-sensei gave us a lesson on how to pack and I’m not going to see you for somewhere between a month or two. He said we were going to train in some isolated area of something? But yeah, he didn’t really specify how long we’d be gone but I’m assuming it’s something like that ‘ttebayo.”

Once again, Iruka stared at him for a few moments in complete shock. 

“Kakashi-san is going to… what?”

“It’s a training trip! It sucks that I’ll be with that Sasuke bastard for so long but at least I’ll be with Sakura-chan and will get some cool training that will make me strong enough to be the Hokage!” 

The brown haired man looked away as he felt tears prickling at his eyes – why did he feel like crying? He should be happy that his student was getting the training he needed to achieve his dream after being shunned aside by the village for so long. 

Then it hit him.

The tears and the aching feeling of his chest that somehow made him feel so incredibly warm was _pride._

Iruka was so incredibly proud of the boy beside him, not only for how far he had come since being the troublemaker of the class, but for the future ahead. As he turned to look back at Naruto, that overwhelming sense of pride seemed to take over once again. Just by looking at him and knowing his dream, he _knew_ that Naruto was going to go far – he was far too stubborn to give up on his dreams by any means. But in this moment, Iruka was so overwhelmingly proud that he had helped Naruto get to where he was now, and knew that he would help the blonde achieve his dreams no matter what. Iruka would help him to become a hokage just as strong as his father, the Fourth, and one just as kind.

“I-Iruka-sensei? What’s wrong?” Naruto asked, concern washing over his features. All Iruka could do was smile, the tears beginning to leak from his eyes.

“Look at you, all grown up now! I’m so incredibly proud of you and can’t wait to see how strong you have gotten when I see you next.”

Now Naruto looked as if he was going to cry, his expression resembling that of a child who had just gotten the best birthday gift a person could offer. A genuine smile took over his face in a matter of seconds, however, as he shouted,

“I’ll be super strong next time you see me ‘ttebayo!”

Iruka’s grin only got brighter as he pulled the boy into a hug. 

He really was so incredibly proud of Naruto. 

  
  



	3. The Training Trip Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 head out to go on their training trip in the woods and Kakashi struggles with a headache because of a couple of brats who are constantly bickering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kind of a filler chapter and so the plot of the first arc should begin soon i think,,, maybe next chapter? anyways it's likely to be reasonably canon compliant (with the land of the waves, chunin exam and the finding tsunade arcs and all that) with a few minor changes that will have pretty big ripple effects later on so yeah

Kakashi sighed for what felt like the millionth time as of late as he and his adorable brats began to march out of the gates of Konoha.  _ Wait… adorable? Surely the brats aren’t growing on me  _ that  _ quickly.  _ The silver haired man shook his head slightly, clearing the thoughts from his head. Luckily, a certain loudmouth blonde interrupted the silence at the perfect moment, clearing Kakashi’s mind.

“Hey bastard! I’m going to get to the training spot before you!” 

“Hn,” The black haired boy replied, smirking. “You can certainly try, usuratonkachi.”

“Usu- you bastard!”

“I believe you’ve already said that. Come up with a better insult, you loser.”

Kakashi shook his head once again, as the boys continued to fight. He found himself glancing at Sakura to see how she was reacting, only to find her not there.

“Maa, maa, hold on a minute. Neither of you even know where we’re going and at this rate we’re going to leave Sakura behind so stop for a minute.” The two stared at him for a moment before Naruto looked behind where Kakashi was standing and yelled,

“Sakura-chan!” before running back to the gates. Kakashi doubled back as well, though much slower as he really couldn’t be bothered moving any faster than he had to. 

“Sakura, is everything alright?” He asked the pink haired girl as she looked away, her trembling hands clinging desperately to the straps of her bag.

“I’m fine,” She replied, tears obviously forming in her eyes. Kakashi crouched down to reach eye level with her before saying,

“Sakura, look at me,” She did and Kakashi caught a glimpse of a tear beginning to fall down her face before she quickly wiped it away. “What’s wrong? If it’s something to do with the trip I can help you out.” She sighed, still looking at his shoes before muttering out a quick,

“I’ve never left the village before.”

_ Oh,  _ Kakashi thought to himself.  _ Of course she wouldn’t have – she’s from a civilian family after all. _

“I promise you that there’s nothing to worry about, I mean, I’m here. You might not know it but I’m one of the elite jonin working under the Hokage, so if anything happens then I’ll be here to protect you. Though, to be fair, the area we’ll be staying in is pretty isolated so I doubt much will happen.”  _ Hopefully that’s reassuring enough… _

“Thank you… it’s just… I don’t know it sounds stupid,” The girl paused for a minute to take a deep breath. “It’s probably not fair of me to say when Naruto and Sasuke-kun have gone without for so long but… I’ve only ever really stayed away from home for a night or two at Ino’s house. It just… feels really weird to be away from my parents. And once again I  _ know  _ how unfair I sound but-”

“It’s okay, Sakura-chan,” Naruto butted in, grabbing Sakura’s bag off of her and rubbing circles into her back. “I don’t really understand it but…” He grinned one of his brightest smiles reassuringly. “We’re all going to be there, as a team. Even that Sasuke bastard over there is going to be or I’ll punch him. We’ll keep you so distracted that you won’t even have time to miss your parents.”

Sakura stared at him for a moment before smiling back, tears now gone from her eyes. 

“Thanks, Naruto. I really don’t know what I was so stressed about to be perfectly honest. I was so caught up on it that I guess I forgot that you guys would be there too.”

Kakashi smiled softly under his mask too.  _ Sakura probably would have punched Naruto a day or two ago had he said anything… they’re starting to get along. _

“That’s good. Now, if we’re all ready to leave, let’s head off shall we.” Kakashi announced, standing up.

“Hn,”

“Yeah!”

“Okay,”

Maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.

… 

Kakashi groaned in annoyance slightly – if only he had kept his optimism from earlier. The constant bickering between the three brats in front of him was causing a headache to brew that he knew was going to be painful. He had no clue how long they had been at it at this point… perhaps 2 hours? The sun was beginning to burn his back as they continued to walk West, even under the cover of the trees. It was probably nearing 10am, meaning they could probably continue to walk another couple of hours before stopping for lunch.

“I told you  _ I’m  _ getting there first, teme!”

“Hn, like you could beat me deadlast.”

“Stop calling me that, you bastard!”   
“I will once you stop being deadlast, loser.”

“Now you’re the one reusing insults!”   
“There’s only so many ways you can insult a loser such as yourself.”

“Good one, Sasuke-kun!” 

Kakashi closed his only visible eye and tried to block out the sounds around him. There was no stopping their bickering by any means – they were the same as him and Obito. Sasuke was far too prideful to back down at this point and Naruto wasn’t exactly known for backing down from a fight.  _ Good grief, I’m going to age prematurely because of these brats. _

“Can we please just stop the bickering for 2 minutes, I’m getting a headache because of you brats.” He lifted his right hand to the bridge of his nose, his eyebrows furrowing. Silence followed for a mere 4 seconds before a quick,

“Sorry Kaka-sensei,” Was muttered by both Sakura and Naruto.  _ So Sakura picked up the nickname too… _

“It’s fine, it’s just that we’ll get absolutely nowhere with all this bickering. It’s only been two hours and at this slow pace we’re not going to reach the training site for a month, meaning that your training time is potentially cut in half. If you want that then it’s up to you, but I get the feeling that you’d probably want to do as much of this training as you can as it’ll likely save your asses one day.”

That shut them up. 

“Is there a way we can move any faster?” The Uchiha asked quietly, sounding annoyed after a moment or two. 

“Hm well there is, but none of you could necessarily handle it yet as I haven’t taught you how to stick to things with your chakra. Unless you have any sort of teleportation jutsu, then I’d suggest that the only way to get there any quicker is to either run or at least walk faster than a snail’s pace.” He opened his eye, only to almost walk into Naruto.

“ _ You can stick to things with your chakra?”  _ A smile seemed to tug at his lips as he asked the question excitably. 

“Of course you can, you idiot! Haven’t you seen the shinobi around town jumping on the roofs of houses?”

“I- uh…” 

Kakashi sighed. 

“It takes a certain amount of chakra control to do that. At first it’s generally easiest to learn how to walk up trees like so,” He explained whilst walking up to a nearby tree and taking a few steps up it before continuing. “Then a person will typically learn how to walk on water. It requires a different level of chakra control to do that, as you have to constantly manipulate the chakra on your feet to adjust to the way that the water moves. After you’ve mastered that it’s usually pretty easy to learn to enhance your jumping abilities with the use of chakra to then jump between the trees, allowing you to move at a much faster pace.”

Naruto’s mouth made the shape of an ‘O’ in what appeared to be both shock and confusion.

“I’ll explain it more once I teach it to you properly. In fact, that’s one of the first things I wanted to teach you, as chakra control is arguably the most important basic skill a shinobi can utilise. So, if you want to learn how to do it, then we should probably pick up the pace.” 

For a moment they simply stood there, likely thinking about Kakashi’s answers to their questions, before beginning to sprint forward at top speed. 

_ Good grief,  _ Kakashi thought to himself before yelling out,

“You have to pace yourselves otherwise you’ll get tired too quickly. That being said, you all do probably need to improve your stamina, so try and keep up with my pacing.”

And at that, Kakashi ran forwards to catch up with his students, internally sighing. 

  
  
  
  


Not much really happened for the rest of the day, with even Sasuke and Naruto’s constant bickering quieting down a bit due to exhaustion. As predicted, Naruto had an incredible amount of stamina due to the nine tails, but even he was struggling to keep up with Kakashi by the end. On the other end, Sakura had a terrible lack of stamina, though Kakashi couldn’t blame her. Rather than doing physical training, kunoichi tended to learn things such as flower arranging and different cultural norms in different nations when they were younger. This information was vital, of course, but it put her a lot further behind than the two boys. Being from a civilian family probably didn’t help a whole lot either.

_ It’s not something that can’t be improved… she has strengths that exceed the other two anyways, so getting her stamina and taijutsu skills up will help her improve greatly.  _

In terms of stamina, Sasuke sat somewhere between Sakura’s lack of it and Naruto’s endless energy, probably due to the training he had been doing since he was a little kid.  _ That reminds me… I should see if he has any scrolls on him that hold Uchiha jutsu – no point in teaching ninjutsu if he can’t practice and learn his clan’s jutsu.  _

Kakashi looked away from the campfire he’d been staring at for the past 5 minutes to look up at the stars. Although he’d been moving reasonably slow by his standards, for 3 newly-made genin to be able to keep up with him was impressive – it was without a doubt that none of them would be able to keep up for as long the next day, however, with the exception of maybe Naruto. Judging by the three’s general body language, he had pushed them to their limits today. One night wasn’t enough to help them recover fully, especially considering how early Kakashi had planned on leaving. 

He sighed.

They were going to hate him. 

  
  


“Make sure you get some rest tonight,” His eyes dropped from the stars to focus on his student’s who were sitting across from him. “We’ll be leaving nice and early in the morning, probably around sunrise. It’s going to be a hot day so I’d like to get as far as we can before it gets too hot… by that time I’ll probably teach you a few survival skills before we move a bit further in the later hours of the afternoon when it’s cooled off a bit. It will likely be like this most days before we arrive, which I predict will take around a week or two if we keep up this pace.”

The three brats were clearly suppressing groans of annoyance, their faces saying it all. At this, Kakashi felt a small laugh working its way up his throat. 

“It’ll take a bit to adjust, but it will help you out in the long run. Now, let’s get some sleep so I don’t have to run to the river to pour some freezing cold water on you to wake you up tomorrow morning.”

  
“ _ No way you’re doing that! I’m going to bed, dattebayo!”  _ Naruto yelled, diving towards his sleeping bag. Kakashi chuckled as he saw the looks on the other two’s faces, before they too got up rather quickly to go to their sleeping bags. Kakashi could’ve sworn he saw Sasuke roll his eyes, making him laugh even harder before deciding to hop into his own sleeping bag. He may have set the rules for leaving so early, but it didn’t necessarily mean that he wanted to – he valued his sleep, after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u enjoyed reading this chapter even if it was a bit boring,, i have to say, writing sasuke and naruto's dialogue is always super fun so yeah lol
> 
> anyways ill probably be able to update this on friday maybe? my dance classes start back up for the year this week and my piano classes are starting too so yeah im gonna say friday at the absolute latest for my next update :)


	4. The Trip Becomes... Eventful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke begins to get fed up by the slow pace that the team is moving at and lashes out. What he doesn't realise is that Sakura is fed up with him being an asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally wrote this a week ago idk why i didn't post it until now lol sorry
> 
> anyways quick warning for mentions of unhealthy dieting

The next few days were… interesting, to say the least. Naruto and Sasuke’s bickering seemed to never stop, but in the moments where Naruto couldn’t be bothered arguing back, Sasuke had turned to picking on Sakura. 

“You’re moving too slow, you’re holding the rest of us back.” He would say whilst she struggled to keep up, her face reddened from the sheer lack of effort it took to keep moving. She wouldn’t ever reply though, and Kakashi couldn’t decide whether it was because she was simply too exhausted to or whether it was because of her feelings for the boy. Kakashi, in his infinite wisdom, decided against saying anything either. Sasuke telling her off could be a good motivator, after all, and she did need it. It wasn’t like he was wrong though which was probably the worst part. Her thin frame probably made running long distances exceptionally difficult, due to her not having the same build up of muscles in her legs as the boys did. She had also been looking kind of sickly as of late, which Kakashi had previously pinned to be exhaustion, but watching her now he realised he was wrong.

A lot of kunoichi born from civilian families suffered a similar fate – their parents would often be obsessed with the idea that they would have to be beautiful and feminine to fit in with society, and hence a build up of muscles, no matter how healthy, was regarded as being much too masculine. The girls were usually forced into diets that did nothing good for their bodies whatsoever, which they were usually able to force themselves out of by adulthood or whenever they moved out of home.

Some didn’t though.

Kakashi shuddered at the thought, hating to think that his student could end up passing out or getting seriously injured due to what she had been taught was a ‘healthy’ diet.  _ I’ll have to talk to her about it later… maybe tonight after dinner? She probably wouldn’t appreciate it if the boys overheard the conversation, which is fair. _

That’s when it happened.

It had been almost a week since they had left the village, and Sasuke was clearly fed up with Sakura ‘holding them back’. His comments were much more harsh than usual, even daring to call her weak and pathetic. What the Uchiha hadn’t anticipated, however, was that Sakura was fed up too. 

So when Kakashi heard a loud crack and turned to find Sasuke with a look of pure shock and horror on his face whilst blood dripped from his nose, all Kakashi could do was sigh as he darted forward.

“Don’t you  _ dare  _ call me weak, Uchiha Sasuke! You have absolutely  _ no fucking right!  _ I’ve put up with it until now, my mind somehow thinking that maybe you were trying to help, but you took it  _ way too fucking far.  _ I fucking hate you!” 

Kakashi jumped at Sakura’s shrill voice as she yelled and lectured the Uchiha, angry tears streaming down her face. There was a moment where everything was still, then Sakura whipped out a kunai. Fearing she was going to attack the brat, Kakashi moved forward once again to disarm her, only to stop as she grabbed a tuft of her own hair and started hacking away at it until it sat at a bit above shoulder length. 

“I grew this out for you, you know! But now that I know that I hate you, I guess I don’t fucking need it anymore!” She screamed as she threw the hair at the startled Uchiha. There was another moment of deafening silence before Sakura dropped the kunai and fell to her knees in shock. 

“Naruto, go to the stream we passed before and help Sasuke clean up the blood. I need to talk to Sakura first before I talk to him.”

Naruto nodded quickly at the order, looking terrified, before grabbing Sasuke’s arm and pulling him back towards the stream they had passed a mere 20 seconds ago. 

_ Great,  _ Kakashi thought to himself.  _ Now I have a crying child to deal with, a brat whose pride is probably as broken as his nose and another kid who looks terrified. Absolutely fucking great.  _

“Sakura, I-”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to blow up like that…” Sakura mumbled, her voice trailing off at the end as a loud sob left her shaking. 

“It’s okay. What I was going to say, actually, is that I’m proud of you for standing up to Sasuke.”

Sakura’s tear-filled green eyes met his in shock, as her crying temporarily stopped.

“You- what?”

“Punching your teammate and breaking his nose probably wasn’t the way to go about it, but I’m proud of you for standing up to him. To be perfectly honest, he was being a total asshole and I’m going to talk to him about that. There’s reasoning behind his behaviour for sure, but that’s still no excuse for him being that rude to you,” Sakura blinked, still shocked by Kakashi’s reaction. “Now, just promise me that if he’s an asshole again that you won’t break his nose.” 

She looked away, embarrassed, before nodding. Kakashi smiled softly as he lifted a hand to ruffle her hair. 

“Come here, I’ll give you a hand with evening out your hair.” Is all he said before she spun around, her back to him. 

  
  
  


It didn’t take long to cut her hair, leaving it at chin length. 

“All done,” Kakashi said, standing up. Now it was time to deal with Problem Child Number 2 and Kakashi  _ really  _ wasn’t looking forward to it. 

Sakura stood up too, pulling him into a hug.

“I really am sorry,” She whispered, her voice muffled by his jounin vest. 

“I know,” He ruffled her hair once again and she pulled away. “Just make sure to tell Sasuke that, too, even if you’re not entirely sorry. I’ll definitely make sure that he apologises as well so don’t worry.”

The pink haired girl nodded and Kakashi began to dreadfully walk over to the Uchiha brat.

  
  


“Naruto, you go sit with Sakura for a bit… I need to talk with Sasuke.” Kakashi said, trying not to sound too harsh. Naruto nodded and started to head off, before stopping.   
“I tried to stop the bleeding but it didn’t really work that well, sorry…” 

“It’s alright.” He replied, and Naruto started to run towards where Sakura was sitting.

“Good grief,” Kakashi sighed as he sat down next to the Uchiha, who wasn’t looking at him. “Here, let me have a look at your nose.”

“Hn,” Is the only reply he got, though he wasn’t really expecting anything more. To be fair, Kakashi hadn’t expected a response in the first place. The Uchiha turned to face him, averting his eyes. His nose was pretty swollen, with a very light stream of blood coming out of it – though it wasn’t much. Kakashi sighed and lifted his hand up to it, smothering it in chakra to help boost the healing process.

Kakashi wasn’t a medical ninja by any means, but he had learnt enough medical ninjutsu from Rin to be considered capable of first aid. 

He felt Sasuke wince under his touch a little, but neither of the two said anything until Kakashi pulled away.

“That should be okay now, let me know if I need to fix it any more,” Sasuke didn’t say anything in response, still averting his eyes and swivelling away to face the stream. “Now, as much as I’d like to lecture you, I need to hear the situation from you to make sure you understand-”   
“I’m not an idiot, Kakashi, I know I was being an asshole.”

“Kakashi- _ sensei _ ,” He reminded, though he wasn’t that bothered by it. “Why were you being an asshole to Sakura, your words not mine.”

A moment passed in which Kakashi was worried that the boy wasn’t even going to bother to reply, but nevertheless he did.

“She was moving too slowly. I need to train as much as I can so that I can take down Nii-” Another moment went by as a look of horror took over Sasuke’s face, before being replaced by anger. “To take down  _ that man.  _ You said it yourself… moving at a snail’s pace will just make us more likely to cut down our training time. Having to stop every 5 minutes because Sakura can’t keep up is just reducing the time that we… that  _ I  _ have to get stronger and not be weak.”

Kakashi sighed for what felt like the millionth time.  _ So that’s what this was about…  _

“At the pace we’re moving at, we should arrive in a day or two from now so don’t worry. I understand that there’s… reasoning… behind your words, but I’d still like you to apologise to Sakura. Make sure you sound sincere about it too,” Sasuke’s face sank behind the high collar of his shirt, but Kakashi could tell that he understood. “Also… I know it’s useless to tell you to give up on your revenge, but please know that you’re in a team now. When the time comes, I know for sure that Naruto and Sakura – and me, as well – will do anything to help you complete your goal. This doesn’t mean that I agree with your decision, but when the time comes, I will support you in any way.”

Sasuke didn’t say anything, which was to be expected. 

“Now, let’s go. I believe an apology to Sakura is in order.”

The two then got up, Sasuke trailing behind as they headed back towards Sakura and Naruto. Kakashi found himself feeling sorry for the kid, his face only half showing under the high collar of his shirt and his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. He didn’t allow it to show on his face, though – Sasuke certainly wasn’t the type to wallow in pity and certainly wouldn’t appreciate it. 

Before long, they arrived to Sakura jumping to her feet and yelling,

“Sasuke-kun! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-” Sasuke cleared his throat, interrupting her. 

“I should… be the one who is apologising,” Though his eyes were averted due to embarrassment, his tone sounded more sincere than Kakashi would have imagined. “I shouldn’t have said those things and been a total asshole. You’re right – you aren’t weak and I took it too far.”

After that, there was just silence. Sasuke twitched uncomfortably in it, his pride obviously taking a massive hit. Luckily, Naruto managed to detect the seriousness in the air and stayed silent. Kakashi could already tell that he was never going to let Sasuke live this down, however, which he knew was going to give him a headache.

“W- wow. I wasn’t…” Sakura paused, clearly attempting to figure out how to word her next statement. “Thank you… I should apologise as well. I took it too far and I shouldn’t have punched you… are you okay? I hope it didn’t hurt too much oh no-”   
“Hn,” Sasuke silenced her rambling, his gaze finally lifting to look at the girl. “Your hair… it looks better now.” A light blush tinted both of their cheeks, probably out of embarrassment.

“T- thanks. I probably should’ve done it ages ago, because as you said, it was just a hindrance.”

“Hn,” He replied once again, and Kakashi let out a sigh.  _ Good grief, it’s finally over. _

“Well, now that that’s resolved, should we keep going?” Kakashi asked and the three nodded before taking off, slightly tentative. 

… 

Kakashi hated when he was right. Not all the time, but in times like this, he  _ seriously  _ wished he was wrong for the sake of his sanity. As predicted, once the seriousness of the previous conversation had passed, Naruto was apparently incapable of letting Sasuke go on the situation. 

“You should have seen your face after Sakura-chan punched you, it was hilarious! And when you were apologising too… that moment is permanently ingrained in my brain and I’m  _ never  _ letting you off the hook for that,” He yelled with a laugh for what felt like the millionth time. 

“Yes,  _ we get the point,”  _ Sasuke finally said, rising to the bait. “Moving your mouth this much is just a waste of energy, so would you  _ shut up for one minute.” _ His tone was cold enough to silence most people, but unfortunately Naruto wasn’t just anybody and there was no way he was backing down from this.

“Hey! I’ve got the most stamina out of  _ all  _ of you, so I don’t think you can talk!” 

_ Good grief.  _ Kakashi clenched his jaw as he tuned out of the conversation, too mentally exhausted to hear another word. Dealing with a crying kid and a fight of sorts really wasn’t his forte, and he was exhausted.  _ I didn’t sign up for this… what was I thinking accepting the Third’s order? If it really came down to it I could have said no.  _

The silver haired man pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning internally. This was proving to be much harder than he had expected. 

“Kaka-sensei? Can we…” The voice trailed off as Kakashi began to slow down, looking at the sky.  _ It’s getting late, they’re probably ready to have dinner.  _ The man nodded, stopping before calling out to the boys ahead of him.

“Naruto, Sasuke. We’re going to stop here for the night.”

Probably due to the situation earlier, neither of the two put up a fight as they stopped and began to jog back to where Kakashi and Sakura were standing. 

“Tomorrow you can all have an extra hour or two of sleep if you would like. As you may have noticed, our food supplies are likely to be mostly diminished after tonight’s meal,” The three sat down in front of him, listening intently. “So tomorrow we’re going to spend a bit of time learning to do some basic hunting, not only for animals but also plants as well. This seems as good a spot as any for this, as there’s a river not far from here if we want to do any fishing and plenty of space to learn to use traps and such. There’s also a lot of medicinal herbs around and other edible plants that I can teach you about, and I also brought a few books along with me if you need to reference anything. Any questions?”

“If we stop here, how long do you think it will take to get to the training site?” Naruto asked.

“Hm well, I’m going to say that we’ll likely arrive the day after tomorrow. Though it’ll probably be pretty late, so if we needed to we could arrive early the following day.”

They all nodded, and after noticing that nobody else seemed to be asking anymore questions, they began to set up a campfire to cook their food on. 

_ At least they’re learning quickly… it’d be a pain in the neck if they didn’t.  _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if any of this seems ooc, i just really needed to have an opportunity to make sakura want to get stronger much quicker and get over sasuke,,, also i really hated how in canon that nobody ever seemed to say anything about helping sasuke with his revenge so i got kakashi to do it lol. also i don't hate sasuke i assure u, he's been my favourite character since day 1 (unfortunately) but slandering him is just,,, so fun HSKDJFH  
> im also trying not to make the story too biased so we will get a bit of time for sasuke soon ish i promise  
> also can someone please get kakashi some coffee, being the newly appointed sleep deprived dad of team 7 is a rough job
> 
> but yeah, once again sorry for the late update,,, i will try to update a bit more frequently now  
> anyways hope u all have a good week :)


	5. Kakashi vs Uncomfortable Conversations, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi has yet another uncomfortable conversation with one of his cute little genin brats, though he hopes that it will benefit them in the long run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote some of this like 2 days ago and then the rest of it today/yesterday at like 12am instead of doing homework so i apologise for how terrible this is
> 
> quick warning for mentions of unhealthy dieting

“Sakura, can we talk about something? It’ll only take a minute.” Kakashi was  _ not  _ looking forward to this conversation whatsoever, especially after what had occurred earlier. He had considered talking about it at a later date, but he didn’t want to bring forth the risk of the pink haired girl getting injured or passing out.

“Yeah, sure. Should I be worried or…?” Sakura’s voice trailed off as she stood up and dusted off the back of her dress where she had been sitting. 

“Nope,” The silver haired man replied, also standing up. “I just figured it was something we should probably discuss without an audience.” He gestured to the two boys who appeared to be competing over who could roast a marshmallow better.  _ Reminds me of me and Obito… _

“Okay,” She said, following him to a spot out of earshot of the other two… not that they would hear them, anyways. 

Once they had reached their destination, Kakashi found himself taking a deep breath in – this wasn’t the kind of conversation he wanted to engage in, but as Sakura’s jounin sensei, he figured he should. 

“This is probably going to be really awkward,” Kakashi started, clearing his throat and averting his eye. “But, as your jounin sensei, it is something that I should probably ask for your wellbeing.”

Sakura didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue. 

“Please don’t take this the wrong way… it’s something I have to ask about due to your situation I guess you could say. A common pattern among civilian-born kunoichi is that they tend to be forced into diets by their parents and I was wondering if your parents had done anything similar to that with you.”

A moment passed in which neither of them said anything and Kakashi was worried if she had misinterpreted the question. Then…

“Yeah,” Sakura now looked away from Kakashi, a hand reaching up to scratch the back of her head. “They have.”

He sighed.

“Look, unless it’s some kind of medical dietary restriction I’d like to ask if you could stop whatever this diet is. From what I can tell, it’s really not doing anything good for your body and I’d hate it if you got hurt because of it,” Kakashi paused, trying to think of a way to lighten up the situation. “I mean, it would be a lot of paperwork if you got yourself hurt.” 

Kakashi’s shoulders, which he hadn’t even realised were tense, loosened up the minute he heard Sakura laugh.

“Kaka-sensei! I didn’t know you had a sense of humour!” 

He smiled under his mask, closing his eye. 

“Maa, I have my moments.” He replied, only making Sakura laugh more. “No but really, it would be a hell of a lot of paperwork if you got hurt.”

“You really don’t like paperwork do you? But yeah, I’ll try I promise,” A smirk appeared on her face. “Might as well be a good student and save you from the paperwork.”

“Hilarious.” He ruffled her hair a little and began to walk back to the others. 

“Mines better, don’t lie to yourself you bastard!” Kakashi turned to look back at Sakura after hearing this, his deadpan expression making her giggle.

“Hn,” Sasuke’s arms were crossed and he was facing away from the blonde next to him. “Somehow I doubt that, you loser.” 

“Stop calling me a loser every sentence!”   
“I will when you stop being such a loser.”

“Maa, maa. Quiet down you two otherwise I might reconsider letting you sleep in tomorrow.”

The looks of pure horror that adorned on their faces moments after was worth it. 

“N- no way! You wouldn’t do that to your amazing students would you, Kaka-sensei?” Naruto’s eyes were pleading, and even Sasuke looked slightly desperate.  _ I must’ve worked them all a little harder than I thought… _

“Oh, I definitely would. Now, go to bed before I revoke your rights to sleep in.” 

Naruto’s yell of surprise could probably be heard a kilometre away as he grabbed Sasuke by the arm (his yell was equally as loud as he angrily shouted “Naruto!”) and shoved him towards his sleeping bag.

“We have to go to sleep otherwise we won’t be able to sleep in, you idiot!” Naruto was somewhat frantic – the kid really did love his sleep. 

“Wh- I know that!” Sasuke looked even more pissed than usual which was saying something. “Naruto you-”

“Shut up bastard!”

Kakashi chuckled softly under his breath. 

Maybe these brats were growing on him after all. 

  
  
  


“Hn, looks like the loser is still asleep,” Sasuke rolled his eyes, smirking. Kakashi just pinched the bridge of his nose, turning away. If he was right, the Uchiha brat was likely to start throwing things at the blonde to wake him up, meaning things would become messy again soon. Either that or he would recommend they leave Naruto behind so as to teach a lesson about sleeping in.

_ I mean, I can’t really be too harsh. I did say he could sleep in, after all. _

But this was getting ridiculous. It was well past the time that Kakashi had intended to wake them all up, but for some reason he couldn’t bear to wake the boy up. For one thing, the lack of volume was definitely doing his sleep deprived brain some good. For another, he looked so… peaceful. Like all his burdens had somehow been lifted. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t hide his burdens from Kakashi – he was an elite jounin, after all. What kind of shinobi would he be if he couldn’t even see under the mask of a 12 year old?

Still, he was well aware of how terrible Naruto’s life had been, even from the moment he was born.  _ I wonder how Minato-sensei would react to Naruto’s upbringing… _

His life had been one full of misery, loneliness and likely hatred, though without the knowledge of the kyuubi until just recently, his anger and hatred was probably misguided. It didn’t seem unlikely that he detested the village, particularly the people that had shunned him aside, the people that ignored him and the people that spat on him as he walked past, muttering about some “demon fox”. 

Kakashi’s biggest regret yet may have been not fighting the Third more to allow him to have had a place in Naruto’s life sooner. 

The man’s thoughts drifted ever further as he turned to look back at his students, one of which was angrily throwing various objects back at the brat who had presumably thrown them in the first place. 

It had been no secret around the village that the Uchiha was a flight-risk, which was probably another reason that Kakashi had been put in charge of him. The raven haired boy was so fixated on the idea of getting revenge that he likely didn’t hold much loyalty to the village anymore.  _ Can’t say I blame him. This is the same village that left a 7 year old to live in the very compound where everybody he ever loved had been killed, and then continued to ostracise him for being the only remaining Uchiha.  _

God, the village  _ really  _ wasn’t a good place. 

For a moment, Kakashi allowed himself to wonder what was going through the boy’s mind at this point in time. Was he angry at not having a day to physically train himself? Or was he so distracted by the current situation with Naruto aggressively throwing things at him to even care? As Kakashi glanced into his eyes, however, he realised that he was so  _ very  _ wrong. 

Admittedly, Sasuke was exceptionally good at hiding his emotions, at least in comparison to Naruto anyways. Still, he was no Itachi. He held far more emotion within him than his older brother had, meaning that even he was unable to prevent his feelings from reaching his eyes. 

As Kakashi looked into his eyes, he sighed softly. In this moment, all that was held within them was a look of terrible sorrow. Though his facial expression said otherwise, the silver-haired man was able to see right through it  ~~_ he just wished he had sooner. _ ~~

He had been so focused on helping Sakura out and watching over Minato-sensei’s son that for some reason he had managed to overlook perhaps the one that needed the most help of them all. Somehow it had slipped his notice just how dark the Uchiha’s eye bags were, the way he seemed to only retaliate to Naruto’s comments as a way to distract himself and the way he hid behind this wall of confidence like it was a shield, protecting him from something unknown. 

Kakashi diverted his eyes, a horrible feeling swirling inside him. How had all this managed to slip past him without him even realising? The man clenched his jaw, trying to think of a way to get through to the kid. He was much more prideful than the others, making it difficult for this sort of thing.

_ The sharingan. _

The thought felt as if it physically hit him, slamming into his gut. Talking about the sharingan was a sure way of getting through to the boy, but that probably meant that he would have to tell the story of Obito’s death. At this thought, a wave of pain seemed to roll over him – he still blamed himself, after all. However, he knew he would need to tell this story sooner or later. Another reason that he had been put in charge of Sasuke was to teach him to use the sharingan, a skill in which he would usually be taught by his clansmen. He couldn’t exactly see Itachi popping up out of nowhere to teach him though, so the only way the boy would learn how to master it was through him. 

_ I probably should have told him about my sharingan not long after I saw his. _

Kakashi shook the thought from his head. The memories of Obito’s death that were swirling around in his mind were already enough, he didn’t need annoying thoughts such as those to add to the mix. 

Kakashi found himself pinching the bridge of his nose once again. There was no way out of telling the story of Obito’s death, especially after the massacre. Sasuke had likely grown up on stories of dojutsu theft, and he didn’t need him believing that he had stolen his eye from one of his dead clansmen in the events between when the Uchiha had been killed and when they were finally put to rest. 

He definitely didn’t realise so many uncomfortable conversations would come out of him being a jounin sensei. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter will likely start off to be sasuke centric and if i feel like it i might go into his backstory a little,,, things are a tad different in this i guess bc hes already awakened the sharingan so idk how much that'll change the story (im literally just winging this whole thing) but yeah lol  
> anyways i apologise once again for the absolutely terrible chapter 
> 
> oh also as i mentioned before, sasuke is my favourite character (somehow, unfortunately,,, why couldn't shikamaru or naruto or someone good like that be my favourite character istg) so ill probably end up writing a hell of a lot about him next chapter bc i miss that idiot and both want to punch and hug him for being such an asshole bUt with good reason for being one


	6. Kakashi and Uncomfortable Conversations part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi manages to find himself in yet another uncomfortable conversation with one of his students, though he hopes it's all for the greater good and that it will work out somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i definitely did not write this instead of revising for a test and doing my maths and history aNd music homework, what are u talking about?  
> anyways hope u enjoy

It was no secret that Kakashi was… distant for the rest of the day. Though he had managed to get everybody to work on something, it took him a few moments to register that someone had actually spoken upon being asked a question (which was happening somewhat frequently). The reasoning behind this was due to the decision he had made not long after Naruto had woken up – he was going to tell the tale of how he got his sharingan, meaning he would have to describe how Obito died. 

At least Sasuke wasn’t one to bombard him with questions. 

Speaking of the Uchiha, he too had been somewhat distant for the majority of the day, barely even bothering to bait Naruto with an insult. His face was buried in a book that Kakashi had assigned him to read, although it had been far too long since he had last turned a page for him to actually be reading it. 

Meanwhile, Naruto appeared to be referencing a few traps from the book Kakashi had loaned him and was mixing them in with a few that he had already come up with.  _ What’s the bet he’s trying to trap me or Sasuke- _

Sakura was endorsed in a book about hunting and medicinal herbs that she had specifically asked the man for ( _ “Somebody has to make sure these idiots eat and don’t get hurt too badly,” _ ) and was writing notes on a spare sheet of paper to help her memorise anything that she deemed practical. 

_ Well, the pups seem to be working pretty well… two of them are anyways. I guess it’s time, huh? _

“Sasuke, I need to talk to you about something real quick,” Kakashi beckoned the kid over, standing up to relocate to a more private spot. 

As expected, he didn’t get a response. The Uchiha simply stood as well and followed him, closing the book he’d been staring at blankly for the past however long. 

_ Time for Uncomfortable Conversation number 2… _

  
  
  
  


“Why do you think I was put in charge of you as your jounin sensei?” 

Sasuke paused. Of all the things he had expected Kakashi to ask him, this definitely wasn’t one of them. However, he had realised a while ago that there had to have been some reason in particular that he had been assigned to Kakashi’s team – from what he remembered of the brief mentions of the man that his parents had given so long ago, he wasn’t one to voluntarily lead a team of genin. It was also to his understanding that the silver haired man had been in ANBU up until not long ago, so it was probably on specific orders that he was placed in charge of him, Naruto and Sakura. 

He had a few theories regarding this, of course. He had seen the way that the villagers glared at Naruto and called him things such as a “demon fox” as he walked by. 

Sasuke wasn’t an idiot. 

The day the kyuubi attacked had been October 10th, aka the day that Naruto was born. 

Though he wasn’t sure how the two tied in, he knew for sure that they had some kind of correlation. 

As for why Sakura was on the team, Sasuke had no clue. He just supposed that they needed a kunoichi and so the Sandaime had decided to place Sakura in the team. It was probably also something to do with how the only other kunoichi who had graduated were a Hyuuga and a Yamanaka, meaning they would be placed on teams with other clan heirs. 

The reasoning behind why Kakashi was made to be his jounin leader was the more difficult one to explain.  _ Maybe, just  _ maybe  _ it’s because there’s a S ranked literal psychopath who could come back at any moment to try and finish what he started,  _ Sasuke found himself thinking sarcastically. His theory did make sense, but it wasn’t necessarily something he had planned to say  _ out loud.  _

Still, under Kakashi’s watchful gaze he knew there was no way of getting out of this.

“I don’t know,” He started, averting his eyes. He didn’t need to stare Kakashi straight in the face to know that he thought he was spitting utter bullshit. “I guess I just figured it was something to do with  _ that man.  _ I know that you were in ANBU up until recently, so you’d be strong enough to hold  _ him  _ back so that he doesn’t try to finish what he started.”

There was a moment of silence, where Kakashi appeared to be trying to think up his next response. Then,

“Well, that does make a lot of sense. I don’t necessarily know why the Third assigned me specifically, but both my theory and yours make sense.” 

_ He’s lying… he does know. _

“And what would that theory be, then?”

Another pause. 

“This.”

Sasuke’s blood boiled and his temple throbbed in anger as the man lifted up his hitai-ate, revealing none other than a  _ sharingan.  _

_ How did he get that? I was unconscious for a bit after what happened, surely he didn’t- _

“Sasuke, calm down.” Hands were suddenly gripping his shoulders, dragging him back to reality. He hadn’t even realised how tight his jaw was or how his knuckles had turned white from clenching them too hard. Anger still boiled up inside of him as he said,

“ _ How did you get that?”  _ His voice was barely more than a whisper, surprising even himself. He had expected to be yelling, to be jumping away and preparing a kunai. He’d heard enough stories from his father about doujutsu thefts to know how horrific they were, and if the man across from him had stolen them after the massacre-

Instead, he stood completely still. Waiting, he supposed, for Kakashi to elaborate. For Kakashi to tell him where the actual  _ fuck  _ he had gotten that eye from and who he had stolen it from. 

“Before you spiral, please be aware that I didn’t steal this eye,” That caught his attention. Seeing the anger on Sasuke’s face pause temporarily to merge into a look of confusion, Kakashi continued. “Have you ever heard of a person called Uchiha Obito? He was dead long before you were born.”

He shook his head and Kakashi sighed.

“He was a member of my own genin team. I’m honestly not surprised you haven’t heard of him – he was the black sheep of the Uchiha clan. Though he had the signature dark hair and eyes of the clan, Obito was much more like Naruto… even his hair was unruly just like his.

Anyways, on my first mission as a jounin, Obito died to save me. Having lost my eye earlier on in the mission, just before Obito awakened the sharingan now that I think of it, he gave me his eye and asked me to ‘see the future’ for him with it. Because I’m clearly not an Uchiha, I don’t have the ability to deactivate the sharingan and therefore have to cover it up so that it doesn’t take all my chakra.” 

A moment passes in which the two are deathly silent.  _ He didn’t steal it? I knew the names of all the Uchiha, how hadn’t I heard of him before? Surely his parents or somebody would remember him…  _

“Why haven't I heard of Obito before? His parents or somebody would have-”   
“He never knew his parents and grew up with his grandmother. She too passed before you were born.”

“Oh.” Sasuke had no clue what to say – why had Kakashi randomly sprung this on him?

“Now, back to what I was saying. As the only other person in Konoha with a sharingan, I believe the Third placed me in charge of you so that I can teach you how to use it properly. You’ve already awakened it, as I can see,” Kakashi gestured to him and Sasuke blinked, confused. It took him a few seconds to realise he had activated the doujutsu, probably out of anger, and immediately stopped the flood of chakra that was pumping into his eyes. 

“Right,” Was all he bothered to respond with, sitting down due to the sudden fatigue that had hit him. The mix of the usage of his sharingan and the news of Kakashi’s eye had… been a lot, to say the least.    
“How long ago did you awaken-”   
“5 years ago.” 

“Figured as much.”

The pauses that kept occurring whilst they talked were  _ seriously  _ beginning to annoy Sasuke. 

“I can’t do a whole lot with just one tomoe yet,” He started, somewhat hesitantly. Although he’d never admit it to the blonde, it was times like this that he wished he had someone like him there to keep the conversation running. It was no secret that both he and Kakashi had horrendous social skills, after all. 

“I observed that a bit in the bell test, though I would like to see what you can achieve with it thus far when we get to the training site tomorrow or the day after.”

Sasuke nodded, not really feeling like replying. He was far too focused on the thoughts swirling around in his head to even fully register what Kakashi had said. 

Truth be told, Sasuke was a bit… apprehensive towards learning to use his sharingan. Not only was it difficult for him to look in the mirror without seeing his older brother ( ~~_ the sharingan would just add to that _ ~~ ), but it didn’t help that the red tinge that coated everything under the gaze of his sharingan reminded him of the blood that he could never quite scrub out of the Uchiha district, no matter how hard he tried. 

He  _ hated  _ the colour red, for this exact reason. 

There were also persistent lingering thoughts that Sasuke had had since the day after he’d woken up after the massacre, realising he could use the same cursed doujutsu that Itachi had utilised when slaughtering everybody he had ever loved, the same horrible,  _ horrible  _ doujutsu that  _ he  _ had used to make Sasuke watch everyone die so many times ( ~~_ sometimes when he closed his eyes, he could still see it all happening behind his eyelids _ ~~ ). 

What if he turned out like Itachi? He had the ability to have the same eyes as him as he’d been told, so what was stopping him from becoming just like  _ that man _ ? To attain those eyes, to be  _ strong  _ enough to kill him and not be a coward, Sasuke would have to kill his closest friend the same way Itachi had killed Shisui. 

  
  
  
  
  


_ Even if I am killing him for the greater good, how does that make me any different to him? _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally a bit on sasuke whoo  
> this lowkey hurt me to write ngl, especially after watching a really sad tiktok on sasuke and itachi,,, but yeah anyways another thing that kind of bothered me in canon was that kakashi never spoke to sasuke about the sharingan? like the kid surely would've been raised on stories of doujutsu thefts and all that, so why didn't kakashi mention anything? also it bugged me that we never really got to see anything about sasuke's thoughts of awakening the sharingan,,, i feel like he would be kinda apprehensive about it at first? idk if that's just me but thats something i've always headcanoned
> 
> hope u enjoyed reading, see u next chapter :)


	7. Training Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the training begins and Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke learn to walk up trees. Or, at least, Sakura does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah sorry that this is so late, i totally forgot to update

Two days had passed since Kakashi had initiated his last uncomfortable conversation with his students, which he was exceptionally grateful for. What he  _ wasn’t  _ grateful for, however, was the fact that he now had to teach the three brats in front of him. 

Sure, Kakashi had now fully accepted the role of a teacher and was more than happy to help these idiots become strong, but it would prove to take a while before he could remove their status as idiots. 

Especially the blonde. 

“Kaka-sensei! Why can’t I do this just like Sakura-chan? I’m way better than that Sasuke bastard over there, so why can’t I do it?” 

Kakashi bit his cheek in annoyance and silently wished that it wouldn’t bleed.

“Hn, like you could beat me, you loser.” 

“Bastard! I can beat you any day of the week!”

“I’d like to see you try.”

The silver haired man massaged his temples, closing his eye in the process. Kakashi was grateful that Sasuke had been able to at least somewhat return to his usual rhythm with Naruto, but by no means was he thankful for the headache that came as a result of this.  _ These brats are going to be the death of me I swear- _

“Sakura naturally has excellent chakra control, which is something that you were naturally going to struggle with. Both you and Sasuke have much larger chakra reserves than Sakura, meaning this will be much harder for the two of you – it’s only natural. In fact, you likely have about 4x more chakra than I do. Sasuke doesn’t have as much, but he does still have a significant amount.”

The silence that followed caused Kakashi to open his eye in worry, only for him to see Naruto staring at him with wide eyes. 

“I have… 4x more-”

“Yes,” 

_ Including the kyuubi chakra, he likely has 100x more than I do, but I can’t discuss that here yet. Naruto has yet to tell the others, and that should be something he does by himself. _

“Woah! That makes me like, ultra-cool, doesn’t it Kaka-sensei! And bastard, how does it feel to have less chakra than me?”

“I’ve known that for ages, you idiot, so incredibly underwhelming.”

“What? You knew?”   
Kakashi found himself chuckling as he heard perhaps the loudest sigh known to man coming from Sasuke.   
“You dumbass- I have the sharingan. I can see chakra with it.”   
“Hey! First of all, I had no clue you had the sharingan, and second, isn’t seeing chakra more a Hyuuga thing?”

“I’m an Uchiha, you idiot. On what earth would I  _ not  _ have the sharingan? Besides, I don’t see chakra at the same level as the Hyuuga do – rather than seeing a person’s chakra points, I just see chakra in general. Since it’s shown with colours, I can differentiate between the chakra of one person and the next. This also helps with knowing if a person’s chakra flow is disrupted, usually by the use of a genjutsu – considering the Uchiha tend to specialise in genjutsu, it’s incredibly helpful. Is that enough information or would you like me to continue on about it for the next half hour and bore you to death?”

Though his tone is harsh, his words are incredibly informative – knowledge of a teammate’s skills was invaluable information and could potentially save them one day. 

Kakashi found himself chuckling softly under his breath – that was the most he had ever heard the Uchiha speak consecutively, or even at all. Most of his banter with Naruto was spoken by the blonde, who seemed incapable of finding a filter for his words. 

To both Kakashi and Sasuke’s surprise, the blonde responded with an enthusiastic,

“Wow, that’s so… woah! The sharingan is so cool, why the hell did you hide it from us you bastard? What else can it do? Can it make, like, ultra-powerful genjutsu? Can it-”

His voice was cut off, unfortunately, by a loud whack and a yell of surprise.

“Sakura-chan? That was so mean!”

“Get back to your chakra control exercises, then maybe Sasuke-kun can tell us about it later, you idiot! I’m already up to water walking, so hurry up and catch up to me so we can learn something new!”

“But Sakura-chan-”

“No buts! Get back to work!”

Whatever just occurred proved to be a large motivator for both Naruto and Sasuke – Naruto out of interest for the sharingan, and Sasuke likely due to him not wanting to be on the receiving end of another one of Sakura’s punches. Kakashi didn’t blame him for that, considering how strong the pink haired girl was. 

_ I should get Gai to teach her some taijutsu and teach her how to enforce her fist with chakra when she punches… she’d be super scary if she mastered that though. I definitely would not want to be on the receiving end of a punch or kick of hers.  _

Kakashi hummed softly, in agreeance with both his thoughts and Sakura’s words. 

  
  
  


It was as they sat around the campfire that Naruto’s patience appeared to wear thin, as he suddenly got right up in Sasuke’s face (Kakashi was concerned by the murderous look that briefly flashed across his face, mainly for Naruto’s safety) and yelled,

“Now, bastard, tell me about the sharingan!”

The blonde was quickly shoved away, though luckily in the opposite direction of the fire, as the raven crossed his arms and-

Was he  _ pouting?  _

Kakashi could barely contain his laughter as he silently cursed himself for not bringing a camera. The look on the raven’s face currently resembled that of his 6 year old self after Itachi had flicked his forehead, saying something like  _ “Forgive me, Sasuke. Maybe next time.” _ Sasuke, of course, hadn’t known that Kakashi had been watching that interaction – he was in ANBU for god’s sake, if he couldn’t hide his presence from a literal child he would be a bit worried. Still, he couldn’t get the look on Itachi’s face out of his mind. Never before in his life had he seen someone with such a look of pure  _ love  _ and adoration on their face, and never before had he heard a voice filled with as much love as was heard from Itachi that day. 

  
  
  


What the hell had gone wrong for things to reach this point?

Kakashi remembered hearing the news of the massacre and being absolutely  _ destroyed  _ by it. He had, after all, been one of the few who had checked the Uchiha district for any survivors. 

Nothing would ever compare to what he felt the moment he had discovered a tiny body laying down in one of the streets, barely breathing. Tears stained his face and there was a cut on his shoulder, but what horrified Kakashi the most was the recognition – the recognition that this was Uchiha Itachi’s  _ younger brother _ , the person Itachi had openly admitted to loving and cherishing more than anybody else in the world. 

_ “Who is that?” _

_ “Hm? Oh, that’s my younger brother. Sasuke.” _

_ “Sasuke, huh? You care for him lots, don’t you?” _

_ “I do. He’s perhaps the person I love most in this entire world. I’d do anything if it meant guaranteeing his safety.” _

The look on Itachi’s face that afternoon had been like none he had ever seen before. Usually, the Uchiha was a master at concealing his emotions – but in that moment, his face was one full of so much  _ love  _ that it had shocked Kakashi. Never before had he seen the raven smile, but in that moment, the small smile that he had seemed to take over his entire face. 

Of course, Shisui had never let him hear the end of that.

_ “Oh, so  _ Sasuke  _ is your favourite? Not your amazing cousin who is standing right next to you?” _

That had been the first and only time that he would hear Uchiha Itachi laugh.

  
  
  


“That’s way too cool for a bastard like you to have! It’s not fair,” Naruto whined, pulling Kakashi from his thoughts. “Who was the best at using the sharingan in your clan?”

“Well, historically a guy named Uchiha Madara was one of the best… he worked with Senju Hashirama to build Konoha. But if we’re talking about people I knew, then probably nii-san-”

Kakashi clenched his jaw as he saw the boy visibly flinch, his eyes growing wide. 

“Huh? Your older brother-”

“Shut up.” Sasuke’s voice was deadly, causing even Naruto to flinch away. 

  
  
  
  


_ How had things managed to get to this point? _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh hey look its itachi and sasuke angst bc for some reason i like writing it despite it physically paining me to do so,,, this will get into the plot soon, i promise, i've just kinda had to set up the story thus far to highlight any changes that i've made to the original storyline,,, as i said, at first there's not going to be a lot of major changes, but rather minor ones that have ripple effects for the plot to come.   
> also i'm honestly not sure if i'll include kaguya and the otsutsuki in this, mainly bc that part of the story highkey confused me and i honestly kinda feel that it would be better if madara was the last villain,,,, we'll see how it goes though


	8. Chakra Natures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I APOLOGISE IN ADVANCE FOR THIS REALLY SHITTY CHAPTER, I HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW WHERE I WAS GOING WITH IT AND JUST BLABBED ON ABOUT A FEW THOUGHTS THAT I'D BEEN DEBATING ON A WHILE BACK LMAOKSJHFDSKJ

Over the course of the next few days, Kakashi found himself planning out what he was going to teach the brats in front of him, who were attempting to master the water walking technique. Sakura was a chakra control prodigy, but she lacked physical strength in terms of taijutsu and chakra reserves. Though she would be able to master jutsu reasonably quickly due to her exceptional control and overall intelligence and memory, she would struggle against the other two in terms of endurance. Sasuke, on the other hand, was already capable of using jounin level jutsu. Kakashi wasn’t sure how long it had taken the boy to learn it, but if he was anything like Itachi, it probably didn’t take a significant period of time. The Uchiha also specialised in genjutsu typically and the raven had showcased his skills in taijutsu before so Kakashi wasn’t overly worried about those areas. If anything, he just needed to fine-tune those skills and expand on them as well as work on teamwork skills (for he really was terrible at that – he hadn’t gotten the lowest grades for cooperation in his class at the academy for no reason). 

Naruto was the one that arguably needed the most help, though it wasn’t his fault by any means. With the kyuubi chakra on top of his already large chakra reserves from being an Uzumaki, there was no wonder he sucked at chakra control. However, on the other hand, he had shown to be able to react well with certain teaching methods – he’d learned to use hundreds of shadow clones in a day, for god’s sake. 

Whilst he figured he should teach Sakura and Sasuke some skills in genjutsu, it was immediately decided that he’d keep Naruto far away from that. Where Sasuke could probably specialise in any field and Sakura would shine with a specialisation in either taijutsu or genjutsu (if she wished, she would definitely do well in the medical field too), Naruto was a ninjutsu specialist through and through. With those ridiculously large chakra reserves, he could get away without too much skill in chakra control for a bit, and besides – the blonde hadn’t exactly shown too much of an interest in genjutsu at all. Though he said it was a “cool skill”, it definitely didn’t suit his fighting style which revolved mostly around brute strength and a bunch of flashy jutsu. 

With this in mind, Kakashi figured that the first thing he should do was to check everybody’s chakra natures. He’d guessed that Naruto would likely use wind chakra just like his father, though for both Sasuke and Sakura he was unsure. Sasuke  _ had  _ shown him that he was capable of using a fire style jutsu, however something felt different about his chakra that led Kakashi to the conclusion that he could be capable of using another chakra nature. As for Sakura, he genuinely had no clue. She hadn’t shown him any ninjutsu whatsoever so far, and as she came from a civilian family, there was no way of telling from her parents’ chakra natures for example. 

After this, Kakashi decided that it would be best to teach them even just some basic elemental ninjutsu. Even though he couldn’t see Sakura specialising in ninjutsu, it was still best for her to at least know how to use  _ some  _ in case the situation called for it. Besides, if she desired to become a jounin, she would need to be able to use at least two chakra natures. She  _ could  _ technically get by without being capable of using two natures, but it was a pretty general thing that most jounin were able to use at least two types. After learning ninjutsu, he would then ask Gai to come with his own team to teach Team 7 some taijutsu skills. This would benefit both teams – not only would Team 7 learn from an incredible taijutsu specialist, but both teams would be able to learn from one another whilst sparring. Kakashi was also kind of curious to see the byakugan vs the sharingan, not that he’d admit it. By the time that the Hyuuga came, Kakashi wouldn’t be surprised if Sasuke was capable of at least putting up a good fight. He had shown a good use of mid to long range attacks and was also able to do close range ones as well, which would be well suited against the Hyuuga who relied on close range attacks. However, Neji ( _ was that his name?)  _ had received more training than the Uchiha so he would be ahead in terms of that. Neji (he was fairly certain that was the Hyuuga’s name) was also a prodigy of the clan, something that Sasuke technically wasn’t due to him constantly being outshined by Itachi – even though he was considered a prodigy in comparison to others in his year level, amongst the Uchiha clan (where there were people such as Itachi and Shisui), his abilities couldn’t necessarily be considered prodigious. 

Either way, Kakashi was definitely interested in seeing how that fight would play out. (He was also looking forward to the kunoichi of Gai’s team coming, as Sakura would definitely appreciate seeing another girl instead of being surrounded by boys 24/7.)

  
  
  


Eventually it was finally time to move onto phase 2 of his training plan – Naruto, under Sakura and even _Sasuke’s_ guidance, had finally been able to master the water walking technique. Kakashi could barely keep himself from laughing after seeing the look on the Uchiha’s face as he begrudgingly decided to help the blonde. What he couldn’t prevent himself from laughing at, however, was when Naruto accidentally dragged the raven into the water with him on yet another failed attempt at standing on the water – both Sakura and Naruto’s laughs were incredibly contagious, and Sasuke looked like a _drowned_ _cat_ as he dragged himself out of the lake, his usually spiky hair laying flat on his face and his clothes sticking to his skin. The best part, admittedly, was the absolutely _murderous_ look on his face as he glared at Naruto, giving him 5 seconds to run. Petrified, Naruto had sprinted off laughing and yelling as Sasuke caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. At this, Sakura had quite literally cried in laughter as her legs gave out on her and she fell to her knees. 

“Kaka-sensei! I got the water walking technique!” The blonde suddenly shouted out of nowhere, bringing Kakashi back from his thoughts. 

“Ah, good. Now onto the second phase,” He pulled out the three sheets of paper from his pocket, holding one out each to the three of them. 

“Paper?” Naruto asked, confusion prevalent on his face. 

“It’s called Chakra Paper or Chakra Induction Paper. Basically it’s just paper that reacts to your chakra and tells you your chakra nature,” Sakura answered and Kakashi nodded for her to continue. “If, for example, you have a fire chakra nature, the paper will burn. For wind it will slice in half, lightning will make it crinkle, earth makes it turn to dirt and crumble away and water causes it to become damp. Knowing your chakra nature is extremely important, as it dictates the kinds of elemental ninjutsu that you can use. Clans tend to have a specific chakra nature, like the Uchiha and fire for example. This isn’t to say that it can’t be different, though – it’s just a generalisation. Uh… most people also start with one chakra nature typically and can learn another one, though a few special individuals have what we call a kekkei genkai which can present itself as a mix of two chakra natures. An example of this is with Senju Hashirama, the Shodaime, who had a wood style jutsu. I’m pretty sure there’s also one called a… kekkei tōta? That’s a combination of three chakra natures right? I think I read somewhere that the third Tsuchikage is capable of using it and learnt it from his predecessor or something. Anyways, that stuff is kind of tricky to understand so I’m going to assume we’re just sticking to the basics now, right Kaka-sensei?”

To be perfectly honest, Kakashi was completely blown away by Sakura’s sheer amount of knowledge about almost every topic that they covered, aside from things to do with clans (which Sasuke knew a lot about for obvious reasons), meaning that as a team, they collectively had a broad knowledge across a number of topics which would only benefit them later on. 

“You would be correct. For now, we’ll just stick to finding out our own chakra natures and discussing how well they go against one another.”

“What natures are you capable of using?” Sasuke asked with a bored look on his face. 

“The nature that comes to me easiest is lightning release, however, I can also use earth release.” 

“Hn,”

“Shut up bastard, I wanna know how to find out what my chakra nature is! I bet it’s something way cooler than yours!” Naruto butted in, practically quivering in excitement. “Wait… how do you-?”

“You just manipulate your chakra into your fingers… just like that!” Sakura explained, her voice drowned out at the end by Naruto’s excited yell. 

“Wind, huh?” Kakashi honestly wasn’t surprised… to be honest, he’d be more surprised if his nature  _ wasn’t  _ wind. 

“I’ll go next!” Sakura declared, her brows furrowing for a moment in concentration before she grinned as her paper turned to dust and crumbled. “Earth!” Now it was her turn to yell excitedly, a grin plastered on her face. 

“Do I have to do this? I already know that I can use fire style, just like the rest of the Uchiha.” Sasuke still looked incredibly bored as he said this, his voice sounding even more so. 

“Though you can use fire style, I’d still like to see in case it’s something else – I don’t want to be teaching you techniques that don’t correspond with your natural affinity accidentally as it would just make things harder for both of us.” 

In response, the raven just bit his lip and channeled his chakra into his fingertips as requested. 

What neither he, nor the other two next to him, had expected, however, was for the paper to not burst into flames, but rather crinkle. The Uchiha’s eyes widened as a small “lightning,” could be heard escaping from his own lips. 

“Ah, I figured that this would be the case. Well, if you’re capable of using both fire and lightning respectively, that already puts you a step ahead-” Kakashi was interrupted, however, by a quiet,

“How? The Uchiha are supposed to be able to use fire, just like Father told me. Why is my affinity lightning? Something must have gone wrong.” His voice only got louder and louder as he spoke, his fist clenching tightly around the chakra paper. 

“There’s no mistake, Sasuke. Just think – did fire style jutsu come to you as easily as it felt like it should have?” The boy said nothing. “Exactly. Nobody says that you can’t use fire style still, it just means that learning lightning style will be significantly easier for you. The fact that you can already use a second chakra nature is impressive, so don’t beat yourself up about it.”

The heavy silence that followed this felt almost unbearable.

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura eventually asked softly.

“I’m fine. Just… let me think about all of this.” 

He rose quickly, and a few seconds later he was gone. 

Kakashi sighed, not at all surprised that things had gone down this way – it was inevitable considering the situation. 

“What-?” Naruto once again had confusion plastered across his face, though Kakashi could see the worry working its way into his features. 

“He’ll be fine, don’t worry. It’s just… some clan stuff that he has to sort out. He’ll be back in a minute, so why don’t we get a headstart on some jutsu?” The two just nodded, not looking reassured whatsoever. “Sakura, I’ll start with you as I know more earth style jutsu than I do wind. In the meantime, you’re free to watch or do some other kind of training while I get Sakura set up.”

The two nodded again, the silence still heavy in the air. At this point, all Kakashi could do was sigh. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *finger guns* hope u enjoyed i guess? i apologise once again for this truly horrible chapter, it will get better soon i promise,,, i kinda just wanna get this training arc out of the way so that i can get into the fun stuff with the land of the waves arc and the chuunin exam arc. before then, however, i do have to re-learn how to write fight scenes in an interesting way so please bare (bear? im too tired for grammar rn im sorry) with me


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